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B2Gold (TSX: BTO) has increased global resources at its Anaconda project in southwest Mali more than fourfold – from 770,000 oz. of contained gold to 3.4 million ounces.
Located about 20 km away from the company’s Fekola mine, which produced 567,795 oz. gold in 2021, the Anaconda area includes the Menankoto permit and the Bantako North permit.
The project’s updated resource estimate totals 32.4 million tonnes grading 1.08 grams gold per tonne for contained gold of 1.1 million oz. In the indicated category. Inferred resources add 63.7 million tonnes grading 1.12 grams gold for2.3 million ounces.
In 2017, the property had an inferred mineral resource estimate of 21.6 million tonnes grading 1.11 grams gold for 767,000 oz. gold.
“Based on the updated mineral resource estimate… the company has demonstrated that an open pit situated on the Anaconda area could provide selective saprolite material (average grade of 2.2 grams per tonne) to be trucked to and fed into the Fekola mill commencing as early as late 2022,” the company said in a press release.
Sending selective higher grade saprolite material to the Fekola mill could add an average of 80,000 to 100,000 oz. per year to the mill’s annual gold production. The plan to truck the material hasn’t been included in the company’s 2022 production guidance, the company says.
In 2021, B2Gold spent about $12.7 million on exploring the Anaconda area to complete nearly 57,000 metres of combined reverse-circulation and diamond drilling. This year, the company plans to spend $12 million more to explore the area with five drill rigs already present.
In February, a new subsidiary of B2Gold received a new three-year exploration permit covering the Menankoto permit, part of the Anaconda area. The permit brought an end to the company’s dispute with the government of Mali that began in March last year.
Last year, the company’s request for a one-year extension, which was filed in accordance with Mali’s 2012 Mining Code in October 2020, was denied, based on Mali’s 2019 Mining Code.
The company then commenced arbitration proceedings in June through its Malian subsidiary, Menankoto SARL, under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States, a global institution which provides dispute resolutions between investors and nations.
The matter though was resolved in December and the company withdrew from the arbitration proceedings.
Geordie Mark, an analyst from Haywood Securities, described B2Gold’s update resource estimate as positive.
“The appreciably larger collective oxide-sulphide resource makes significant headway towards establishing a large enough resource base at Anaconda to develop a self-standing operation,” Mark wrote in a research note to clients. “The company has now commenced a scoping study on a stand-alone approach to mine oxide and sulphide, and or sulphide only material.”
